What We Learned: How good are the Winnipeg Jets?

The Winnipeg Jets are nobody's idea of an elite team, I don't think.

In the preseason, they were usually right around plus-5000 to win the Stanley Cup, depending on which sportsbook you checked in with. Most prognosticators had them somewhere between dead in the middle or the lower middle half of the league. My own unquestionable Power Feelings had them as 20th, noting "a little more room for optimism" than with a lot of the teams around them.

But check the standings today: The Jets are comfortably top-10 by points percentage, tied with preseason favourites like the Dallas Stars, a smidge behind recent Stanley Cup winners like the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights, and ahead of hot starters like the Vancouver Canucks (who I'm pointedly not dunking on this week, due to magnanimity).